Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a continuous transfer medium, an image forming method, a control program, and an image formation management system.
Description of the Related Art
A plurality of images is printed on one continuous paper in view of saving printing paper and simplifying a printing process. A representative example of the continuous paper is roll paper.
The continuous paper has a fixed width, within which the plurality of images is printed. However, the size and layout of the images vary among jobs.
JP 2015-138508 A discloses a print control apparatus that can execute image printing with a proper orientation and the smallest number of divisions by a user specifying a finish size and an enlargement ratio.
Moreover, JP 2012-166439 A discloses a device which, in performing a conversion according to the sheet size of print data, acquires an operating state of an engine to perform the conversion according to the size of the sheet set in an image forming apparatus when the engine is in operation, or perform the conversion according to the size of the sheet with which a conveyance distance is reduced when the engine is not in operation, the sheet being used in printing the print data.
JP 2015-138508 A and JP 2012-166439 A both relate to the technique of changing the image size in accordance with the paper width to perform printing.
However, when one wishes to print a label efficiently, he may wish to perform printing without changing the enlargement ratio of the image size or the like. Such a label is printed with a layout in which a margin is removed as much as possible. Accordingly, a roll of label paper with the width of 330 mm or a roll of label paper with the width of 250 mm is used depending on the size and layout of the label, for example. In such a case, the continuous paper set in an image forming apparatus has a desired width. One may however wish to use the continuous paper having different widths in a single image forming apparatus.
When a plurality of labels is printed on the continuous paper with an adhesive surface sandwiched between front and back sheets, an adhesive is sometimes squeezed out of the continuous paper and adheres to a process unit from a transfer unit to a fixing unit of an image forming unit at the time of image formation.
Accordingly, when the continuous paper having different widths is used in the same image forming apparatus, the adhesive being squeezed out can possibly adhere to wide continuous paper when such paper is used. Thus, a user needs to turn off the machine and replace the entire process unit with one adapted for 250 mm, when the continuous paper is to be replaced by the continuous paper having a different width in the same image forming apparatus.
The replacement of the process unit may be required for various other reasons. In the image forming apparatus with a function of saving a job in an HDD or the like, for example, there occurs a mismatch in the paper size when one attempts to execute the saved job after changing the size of the continuous paper subjected to printing. In normal printing using cut paper, the size for a paper feed tray need only be changed, whereas the change in the size of the continuous paper requires the replacement of the process unit.
Therefore, in electrophotography as it stands, one is unwilling to take time to replace the process unit so that the size is fixed to the width of 330 mm, for example. However, the cost can be reduced in some cases by performing printing with the width of 250 mm depending on the size of an image so that, in an instance where a saved job with the width of the continuous paper specified to 250 mm is to be printed on the continuous paper having the width of 330 mm, printing is performed forcibly with the image width of 250 mm.
Mass produced products such as “point stickers” on canned coffees or the like account for the majority of a printed matter created with the continuous paper. Accordingly, the sticker is generally cut out by a die cutter post processor that uses a die cutting a large volume of products at a time rather than a laser cut post processor that cuts products one by one. As a result, a reference cut position of a post processing cutter is misaligned as illustrated in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 illustrates a case where roll paper RPO with the width of 250 mm is printed on roll paper RPl with the width of 330 mm. At this time, an array K of a die cutter is arranged to be aligned with the roll paper RPO with the width of 250 mm, whereas an image position and a cut position are shifted on the roll paper RPl with the width of 330 mm so that the paper is cut to the width of 250 mm in advance by a cutter D or the like before being cut in accordance with specifications of the post processing cutter.